La Ville de Bagdad, dans la Turquie, engraved by Pieter van der Aa in Leiden in 1720, is a richly detailed bird’s-eye view that fixes the Ottoman-era city at the confluence of empire, commerce, and riverine life. Baghdad unfurls along the Tigris (often styled “Tigres”) as a fortified organism: crenelated walls, riverfront quays, and a skyline punctuated by domes and minarets. A lettered key singles out prominent structures—mosques, palatial compounds, markets, and civic edifices—inviting close study of an urban hierarchy long famed in travel literature. In the foreground, mounted nobles and caravan camels animate the scene, foregrounding the trade arteries that sustained the city. As a city view, it is compelling for how it balances topographic clarity with narrative vignettes of power and exchange.

The composition captures Baghdad’s spatial logic as a river city whose neighborhoods concentrate along the Tigris’s navigable banks while agricultural fields quilt the periphery. Van der Aa emphasizes enclosure and access—walls, likely gates, and guarded approaches—to suggest both protection and control in an imperial frontier city. The lettered landmarks, precisely set amid dense quarters, reveal an urban core organized around congregational worship, commerce, and administration. Surrounding hills and open landscapes frame the settlement, underscoring its dependence on nearby cultivation and the lifeline of irrigation. Without enumerating street names, the view nevertheless conveys circulation patterns: processional avenues to the water, market clusters near gates, and axial alignments of domed complexes that knit together religious, mercantile, and civic life.

Set during a period of Ottoman suzerainty marked by contraction, the view still memorializes Baghdad’s enduring magnetism at the hinge of Mesopotamia. The foreground cavalcade—costumed dignitaries and laden camels—serves as visual shorthand for caravan routes threading from Persia and the Gulf to Syria and Anatolia, with the river connecting upstream granaries to downstream entrepôts. The city’s bastions signal vigilance, yet the busy riverfront and cultivated hinterland imply resilience and continuity. By placing the Tigris at center stage, van der Aa reminds us that Baghdad’s fortunes have always been braided with water management and trade. This is a city map of movement—goods, people, ideas—readable in the choreography of approaches, riverine edges, and the clustered silhouettes of sacred and commercial precincts.

Pieter van der Aa, a prolific Leiden publisher renowned for translating travel narratives into arresting engravings, binds reportage to artistry in this plate. His technique—clean linework, judicious shading, and an elevated perspective—yields a legible city portrait that rewards both aesthetic appreciation and scholarly scrutiny. The lettered index is typical of his editorial craft, guiding the eye from monumental ensembles to the quotidian fabric. Decorative staffage—the nobles, camels, and rural labor—does more than ornament; it encodes the political and economic realities of an Ottoman provincial capital. Van der Aa’s cosmopolitan workshop synthesized diverse sources to create views that were at once instructive and alluring, situating Baghdad within a European atlas of cities while preserving the specificity of its architecture and terrain.

As a city map, this view is notable for the rare confluence of urban morphology, imperial context, and environmental setting it captures in a single glance. Few early-eighteenth-century images render Baghdad with such narrative density: walls holding a storied core, the Tigris channeling lifeblood, fields and hills delineating a sustaining countryside, and a ceremonial foreground proclaiming rank and route. It is a document to be read in layers—trace the river’s course, identify the lettered monuments, follow the implied paths from gates to markets, and you reconstruct the city’s economic ecosystem. For historians, it illuminates a transitional moment; for connoisseurs, it offers a masterclass in pictorial cartography, where every engraved figure helps explain why Baghdad mattered—and how it worked.

Streets and roads on this map

• Unfortunately, I am unable to confirm any specific streets or roads from the image analyzed.

Notable Features & Landmarks

• Caravan camels
• Costumed nobles
• Important buildings (marked by letters)
• The Tigres River
• City walls
• Surrounding hills and landscapes
• Depiction of agricultural fields

Historical and design context

• Title: La Ville de Bagdad, dans la Turquie
• Mapmaker/Publisher: Pieter van der Aa, published in Leiden
• Date: 1720
• This is a fine example of a city birds-eye view pictorial map.
• The view provides a perspective of Baghdad during the early 18th century, a period when it was under Ottoman control.
• The artwork is characterized by its intricate illustrations and attention to architectural detail, typical of cartographic techniques in the early 18th century.
• The map captures Baghdad during a pivotal moment of decline under Ottoman rule and reflects the city's former status as a major Middle Eastern center.

Please double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.

This map looks great at every size, but I always recommend going for a larger size if you have space. That way you can easily make out all of the details.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

The fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.

If you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the best old maps to see if something else catches your eye.

Please contact me to check if a certain location, landmark or feature is shown on this map.

This would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.

This map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.

For most orders, delivery time is about 3 working days. Personalised and customised products take longer, as I have to do the personalisation and send it to you for approval, which usually takes 1 or 2 days.

Please note that very large framed orders usually take longer to make and deliver. 

If you need your order to arrive by a certain date, please contact me before you order so that we can find the best way of making sure you get your order in time.

I print and frame maps and artwork in 23 countries around the world. This means your order will be made locally, which cuts down on delivery time and ensures that it won't be damaged during delivery. You'll never pay customs or import duty, and we'll put less CO2 into the air.

All of my maps and art prints are well packaged and sent in a rugged tube if unframed, or surrounded by foam if framed.

I try to send out all orders within 1 or 2 days of receiving your order, though some products (like face masks, mugs and tote bags) can take longer to make.

If you select Express Delivery at checkout your order we will prioritise your order and send it out by 1-day courier (Fedex, DHL, UPS, Parcelforce).

Next Day delivery is also available in some countries (US, UK, Singapore, UAE) but please try to order early in the day so that we can get it sent out on time.

Read my full delivery and local production guide

My standard frame is a gallery style black ash hardwood frame. It is simple and quite modern looking. My standard frame is around 20mm (0.8in) wide.

I use super-clear acrylic (perspex/acrylite) for the frame glass. It's lighter and safer than glass - and it looks better, as the reflectivity is lower.

Six standard frame colours are available for free (black, dark brown, dark grey, oak, white and antique gold). Custom framing and mounting/matting is available if you're looking for something else.

Most maps, art and illustrations are also available as a framed canvas. We use matte (not shiny) cotton canvas, stretch it over a sustainably sourced box wood frame, and then 'float' the piece within a wood frame. The end result is quite beautiful, and there's no glazing to get in the way.

All frames are provided "ready to hang", with either a string or brackets on the back. Very large frames will have heavy duty hanging plates and/or a mounting baton. If you have any questions, please get in touch.

See some examples of my framed maps and framed canvas maps.

Alternatively, I can also supply old maps and artwork on canvas, foam board, cotton rag and other materials.

If you want to frame your map or artwork yourself, please read my size guide first.

My maps are extremely high quality reproductions of original maps.

I source original, rare maps from libraries, auction houses and private collections around the world, restore them at my London workshop, and then use specialist giclée inks and printers to create beautiful maps that look even better than the original.

My maps are printed on acid-free archival matte (not glossy) paper that feels very high quality and almost like card. In technical terms the paper weight/thickness is 10mil/200gsm. It's perfect for framing.

I print with Epson ultrachrome giclée UV fade resistant pigment inks - some of the best inks you can find.

I can also make maps on canvas, cotton rag and other exotic materials.

Learn more about The Unique Maps Co.

Map personalisation

If you're looking for the perfect anniversary or housewarming gift, I can personalise your map to make it truly unique. For example, I can add a short message, or highlight an important location, or add your family's coat of arms.

The options are almost infinite. Please see my map personalisation page for some wonderful examples of what's possible.

To order a personalised map, select "personalise your map" before adding it to your basket.

Get in touch if you're looking for more complex customisations and personalisations.

Map ageing

I have been asked hundreds of times over the years by customers if they could buy a map that looks even older.

Well, now you can, by selecting Aged before you add a map to your basket.

All the product photos you see on this page show the map in its Original form. This is what the map looks like today.

If you select Aged, I will age your map by hand, using a special and unique process developed through years of studying old maps, talking to researchers to understand the chemistry of aging paper, and of course... lots of practice!

If you're unsure, stick to the Original colour of the map. If you want something a bit darker and older looking, go for Aged.

See some amazing examples of Aged maps.

If you are not happy with your order for any reason, contact me and I'll get it fixed ASAP, free of charge. Please see my returns and refund policy for more information.

I am very confident you will like your restored map or art print. I have been doing this since 1984. I'm a 5-star Etsy seller. I have sold tens of thousands of maps and art prints and have over 5,000 real 5-star reviews. My work has been featured in interior design magazines, on the BBC, and on the walls of dozens of 5-star hotels.

I use a unique process to restore maps and artwork that is massively time consuming and labour intensive. Hunting down the original maps and illustrations can take months. I use state of the art and eye-wateringly expensive technology to scan and restore them. As a result, I guarantee my maps and art prints are a cut above the rest. I stand by my products and will always make sure you're 100% happy with what you receive.

Almost all of my maps and art prints look amazing at large sizes (200cm, 6.5ft+) and I can frame and deliver them to you as well, via special oversized courier. Contact me to discuss your specific needs.